GREAT PROGRAMS ARE LIKE BEEF.
Some are pure and of the highest quality, like a filet you'd order from Morton's.
Others are mixed with a bunch of fluff and bullshit, like a big juicy Big Mac. It will look and smell delicious but leave you feeling like shit the next day.
I am in the business of writing filet mignon level programs 100% of the time.
Here's 4 things you'll never see in my programs:
JUST ONE THING FOR THE SOCIAL MEDIA POLICE, BEFORE I GET STARTED:
I can write a training program for literally anyone with any goal.
That's a WIDE range of ability.
So if we are talking about a new athlete with little experience, there might be an instance where I would not follow all 4 of these principles.
In this post, I'm talking generally about a training program for an everyday athlete looking to be strong and well-conditioned without pain.
#1 NO CONDITIONING
Conditioning is the swiss army knife of training and I include it in all of my programs because it:
✓ Improves stroke volume of the heart
✓ Speeds recovery
✓ Improves cardiac muscle strength which means more engine for your blood to move oxygen
If all those improve, you have a "fitter" athlete, period.
Many coaches neglect conditioning for two reasons:
1. They don't know how to program it (most common)
2. There's a misconception that cardio kills gains and will make you slow. It could, but it won't if you know some basics.
This study found, it just won't do that. PMID: 34757594
#2 HIGH INTENSITY THAT'S NOT SEPARATED BY 72 HOURS.
This is straight science.
The Central Nervous System takes a full 72 hours to recover from high intensity demands.
Example: 1RM back squat on Monday which is max effort/max intensity, I will give the lower body until Friday until I ask it to do another high intensity lower session.
- High intensity is generally just misunderstood. Coaches don't have a good grasp on how high intensity (which can be from conditioning and strength) interact with the nervous system and also what they demand from the CNS.
- Check out the far right column of the table below. Here are just four examples of several dozen that show what the demand is on the CNS.
BOTTOM LINE:
Neglecting the science of the human body is negligent on part of any coach and done for long intervals will lead to either burnout, pain, and/or injury.
#3 LINEAR PERIODIZATION.
9.5 out of 10 times I am using a concurrent training style over a linear style. Here's why:
No matter how you slice it, if you train linearly, you are focusing on ONE aspect of fitness AT THE EXPENSE OF ANOTHER.
For an everyday athlete who is looking for general, non-specific goals, I want to fortify their body from every single aspect that I can. This means getting them stronger, more resilient, more well-conditioned, and quicker to recover. Concurrent training takes the cake.
#4 BODY PART SPLIT.
Full disclosure: I have spent many a program doing a bro split.
It's basically a rite of passage that everyone starts off training this way I think...
But the reality? I just find typical hypertrophy splits boring. Especially after years of CrossFit.
Concurrent training breaks up the week and makes things way more fun and interesting, and I program this way for my clients as well.
Can there only be *one* filet mignon training style?
Definitely not. There are many ways to skin a cat.
I have arrived at my particular style of training because of my history with both Conjugate and CrossFit, and I program accordingly.
In my experience, if you can get an athlete stronger + more well-conditioned WHILE SIMULTANEOUSLY improving their motivation and pain, you have an athlete that will train consistently.
And that's the sauce.
